title: Recruitment methods for intervention research in bereavement-related depression. Five years' experience.
abstract: The authors compared various strategies for recruiting elderly subjects with bereavement-related depression into a randomized clinical trial. Over 5 years, they empaneled 65 patients from a total of 441 subjects screened (14.7%). Response to media advertisements was the single most effective strategy (54% of subjects). Another effective, but labor-intensive, strategy was using letters to bereaved spouses found through newspaper obituaries (14%); another 14% were referred by friends who had seen study advertisements. Information letters to healthcare providers yielded no study participants. Pathways to study participation did not differ as a function of race or gender and did not influence study retention or remission rates. Our experience suggests that successful intake depends on a personal mode of recruitment.
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Clinical Research Center for the Study of Late-Life Mood Disorders, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, PA 15213, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schlernitzauer
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Bierhals
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Geary
authors.forename: H G
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Prigerson
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Stack
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: R E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Pasternak
authors.forename: C F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Reynolds
mesh_terms: D000329:Advertising; D000368:Aged; D001601:Bereavement; D015709:Correspondence as Topic; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009524:Newspapers as Topic; D018579:Patient Selection; D010414:Pennsylvania; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D012017:Referral and Consultation